Alexon Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taff

Fashions change…
…but smoking’s so last year

The Alexon Group is one of the UK’s leading retailers of ladies' and men's clothing and footwear and includes leading brands such as Dolcis, Eastex and Ann Harvey. Treforest, near Pontypridd, is home to one of its biggest warehouses along with a busy factory shop. January 2006 saw a new policy come into force at the factory with smoking banned from the workplace altogether.

Prior to the voluntary ban the factory had designated smoking areas but with the compulsory ban on smoking in the workplace imminent and following recommendations from their insurers it was decided to bring the smoking ban policy forward. Smoking is now only allowed outside the building in the car park, and only at lunchtimes.

Resource Co-ordinator Avril Hallett, said, “We are quite a large factory and quite a high percentage of our workers are smokers. While it was probably not the most popular decision with everybody, all in all it hasn’t been too bad and everyone has now come to accept it.

“Banning smoking in the workplace has definitely been a good thing for us here not only for general health reasons and productivity but it has also been beneficial from an insurance perspective.”